BAY CITY - Eleven people made it through a written civil servant test before moving on to carrying fire hoses, dragging a victim and climbing a 75-foot fire ladder on Saturday morning.

The Bay City Fire Department held written and physical agility testing for applicants of a proposed paid-on-call program that would supplement the department's full-time fire staff.

Fire Chief Greg Michalek said 14 people showed up for the testing on Saturday, but three did not get the at least 70 percent needed on the written portion to move on.

About 30 people had attended an orientation about the program on Wednesday, but several did not live in Bay City, a requirement of the paid-on-call program.

"It is low," Michalek said of the 11 people that could continue on to a fire academy in June. "We have to look at what it will cost to run the academy. We may have to explore other options and see what's the best one for us."

Michalek has said that the plan was to have 20 paid-on-call firefighters.

Those who passed the physical test, which included five timed scenarios and the aerial ladder climb, will have to undergo background checks and a physcial examination to continue.

Chayton Gamba, 30, a physical trainer from Bay City, made it through all the testing Saturday.

He said the hardest part was the victim drag, where applicants had to drag a nearly 200-pound dummy across the yard.

"It's really heavy and you have to use your whole body," he said.

Gamba said he has always been interested in firefighting and figured this was a good way to get his foot in the door.

Michael Legner, 36, of Bay City, went through the the testing with his brother.

He had made it through the timed portion in about 5 minutes. Applicants were allowed 10 minutes to complete the scenarios.

Legner was a little worried about his last test, climbing the 75 foot ladder on the aerial truck.

"I'm not really a big fan of heights,"he said. "But it's a lot sturdier of a ladder than a typical home ladder."